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Last night I was watching this Kung Fu movie I accidentally stumbled upon while watching some late night T.V. I noticed that the male kung fu warriors had long hair tied in a half ponytail. Some of them are so long its about waist length. Is this based on facts or fantasy?
I don't know for certain, but I think you'll find that it's based upon fact. The word for this style is queue. In fact many dictionaries list this hair style as the primary definition of queue, as opposed to the ones we more typically use these days.
do the chinese have thin fine hair?do they also have the finest hair?or do blonde have that kind?is the chinese hair circular in cross section? THANK YOU
In traditional imperial times, Chinese men did wear long hair.
Most commonly they wore it bunched up in a bun. Then, during
the Ch'ing (Qing) dynasty, 1644-1912, the Manchu rulers required
ethnic Han (Chinese) men to wear their long hair in a single long
braid (queue) as a sign of submission to the Manchu. Han women
were required to bind their feet tightly with cloth from young
girlhood into womanhood. During the C'ing dynasty, there was
a major rebellion in south China (the T'aip'ing rebellion,
1851-1861) against the Manchu rulers. The ethnic Chinese
rebels refused to wear the queue, and wore their long hair
loosely. The Manchu called such rebels "CH'ANG MAO DZEI,"
or "long-haired bandits."
When the first Chinese immigrants came to California during
the Gold Rush in 1848-1849 and after--they wore the queue, and
did so until 1912.
A common southern Chinese folk expression that dates from
that time is: "He's so smart that his queue has fallen off!"
When the Republic of China was established in 1912, the
practice of wearing the queue was abandoned, as the alien
Manchu rulers were overthrown. Chinese men cut their
hair short just like the Europeans and Americans, and that
has generally been the situation ever since that time.
Hope this little bit of history helps. I am a native of
California, and of Chinese ancestry.
Thanks for the great information. Do you by chance have any references? I would like to include this material in future updates if possible. If anybody else has other similar information please post it or e-mail me.
There are two general references:
1. Edwin O. Reischauer & John K. Fairbank,
EAST ASIA: THE GREAT TRADITION.
2. Immanuel Hsu,
MODERN CHINA.
Both are general history textbooks. They don't say that much
about hairstyles. :-) But the history of the queue is pretty
well known.
--Loren
I'm afraid I know very little on the topic and am actually asking a question rather than answering one. Does anybody know what name was given to the chinese ponytail?
Any response would be much apreciated.